HORSE riders have only partially welcomed changes to the highway code which gives them priority over vehicles on public roads.
However, they complain that cyclists have unfairly enjoyed priority over horses.
Changes to the code have created a hierarchal order, which makes pedestrian safety the highest priority followed by cyclists, then horse riders. Large passenger vehicle and HGV drivers have the greatest responsibility to reduce the danger they pose to other road users.
Lesley Aldrich, of Barnard Castle and Teesdale Riding Club, welcomed the changes which she said should make riding along county roads safer. She said: “I welcome it very much because I have been asking for a campaign to slow down vehicles when passing horses.”
She added that since the pandemic, more people are visiting Teesdale and drivers seemed more “aggressive” .
She added: “I always ride with a whip and the end of my whip has often been hit because they are so close.”
However, she was worried that cyclists are being given priority over horse riders, which is a problem in areas such as Hamsterley Forest where the two are often at loggerheads.
Ms Aldrich said she had been riding in the forest with a friend recently when they were struck by a cyclist and her friend’s horse had been slightly injured and could not work for a period afterwards.
She added: “It could have been a lot worse. The aggression we got afterwards [was awful]. We decided there and then in the summer we wouldn’t go back to the forest. Horses should have priority because it is a living being, not an inanimate object like a bicycle.”
She added that the club would soon have a meeting about the new regulations and how best to get them enforced. Drivers will be advised to pass equestrian road users at 10mph with at least a two-metre gap. Under the rules, drivers at junctions will have to give way to pedestrians crossing or waiting to cross the road they want to turn into. They also should give way to pedestrians and cyclists waiting at a zebra crossing. Cyclists, however, will have to give way to pedestrians when using shared pathways. The code says motorists should leave at least 1.5 metres when overtaking cyclists at speeds of up to 30mph, and give them more space when overtaking at higher speeds.
